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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26409181">I'll Choose This Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jungle_ride/pseuds/jungle_ride'>jungle_ride</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy Lives, F/M, Future Fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:06:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26409181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jungle_ride/pseuds/jungle_ride</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you ever think about what would have happened if we’d meet in the Forest?” Emma asks, running a hand lazily through Neal’s hair as they lay on the bed, stealing a moment for themselves, before the day truly began. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Het Swap Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'll Choose This Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/gifts">Ultra</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I'm totally with you and personally I was 100% done with the show when they royal messed up when it came to this couple. As such anytime I get to indulge and write something for them and what should have been, well it's a great day. I saw happy ending , the princess and the dark one's son written in your prompt list and this little moment came to mind. I hope you enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Do you ever think about what would have happened if we’d meet in the Forest?” Emma asks, running a hand lazily through Neal’s hair as they lay on the bed, stealing a moment for themselves, before the day truly began. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was early, the sunlight was only just starting to come in through the window, a hazy yellow glow slowly beginning to creep out from behind the curtains and illuminate the room. Emma is propped up against the headboard of the bed, still in her pajamas whilst Neal is lying sideways, his head resting on Emma’s stomach, legs hanging off the edge of the bed. He’d been getting ready for work when Emma, after Neal had groaned in tired exasperation from the effort it was taking to put his socks on, had lured him back down onto the bed with her siren’s call of “come here baby.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neal hadn’t put up a protest, instead he’d just slumped backwards, maintaining enough control of his body so that when his head hit Emma’s lap he didn't hurt her. As such Neal is only half dressed, socks on, shirt unbuttoned, tie hanging loosely around his neck and trousers lying discarded beside him. Emma thinks it might be her favorite look on him. There was something about him like this that caused a honey like warmth to envelop her and make her heart flutter. She thinks it might because she can so clearly see all sides of Neal Cassidy. The lost boy, abandoned by his father, the wild and reckless younger man he’d been when they met, and the man he’d become now, steadfast.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Emma loved them all and she’d long since understood that one of the reasons they fit together so perfectly was because of their jagged edges. They’re trauma and past had sharpened and shaped them in such a way that it was only with each other that they could finally smooth those edges down. They needed the presence of the other, the friction and disagreements matched with the unconditional love and forgiveness. Theirs was a romance based in the rebuilding of family foundations that had shattered inside them, long before they’d stolen a car. Although there might be blood between them now, marriage and babies, theirs was still at it’s foundation a found family, through and through.   </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Forest?” Neal queries nose scrunching up conveying his confusion and bringing Emma out of her thoughts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, the Forest.” Emma retorts softly, wrapping a finger around a strand of Neal’s hair, it was getting long again. Emma knows Neal’s not quite understanding her meaning,  but she likes letting him work it out for himself. She also said her original comment offhandedly, not really thinking about where the conversation might lead and now she’s a little nervous that her innocent statement might have been ill timed. They couldn’t stay in his room forever, there were things to do, children to wake, breakfast to eat, school pack lunches to pack, jobs to get to, lives to lead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Turning his head Neal squints at her through his still bleary eyes, obviously trying to work out what Emma was implying by reading it on her face. Emma waits patiently.  It takes him a minute but his eyes suddenly light up with understanding and Emma smiles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh you mean the enchanted forest, magic land.” Neal says, holding up his hands into the air and wiggling his fingers as he says the words magic land, his voice a little rougher on the word magic.  Even now, years later, Neal’s still a little wary of magic, somethings are harder to let go of. Emma nods, chuckling at the display and tugs at his hair a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh.” Neal sighs contemplating the idea for a moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. I’ve never thought about it.” He says a second later and Emma is genuinely surprised. Her face must indicate it, because Neal smiles and turns onto his side, leaning up on his elbow so that he’s got a better view of her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Em I’ve thought about a lot of what if’s in my life when it comes to us. What if we'd met when we were younger in a foster home or something, what if I’d never stolen those watches? What if August hadn’t found us? What if I hadn’t been such a coward and stayed anyway? What if I'd come back for you? What if I'd known about Henry? The list goes on, but I can honestly say I've never thought about the what if the curse never existed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?” Emma asks, intrigued.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That place holds so much crap for me that I actively try not to think about it, besides you’d have been a princess.” Neal says, like that explains everything. It’s Emma’s turn to scrunch her face up in confusion. Neal laughs scooting higher up the bed to press a kiss to her lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What would me being a…princess have to do with anything.” Emma says as they break apart, hesitating before saying the word princess, because there was still a very big part of her that still had a hard time adjusting to the facts of her lineage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alot!” Neal laughs, pressing his back into the pillows and rubbing sleep from his eyes before half hardheartedly reaching out for the discarded trousers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Elaborate.” Emma says, tugging on the waistband of his boxers indicating she was not done with this conversation and thus needed him to focus.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m the son of the Dark One.” Neal sighs, knocking his forehead against hers gently before rolling out of the bed and slipping his trousers on. The father and son relationship between Neal and Rumple had definitely changed over the years, they had been a lot of healing, however it didn't mean that the past wasn’t still painful. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Say you’re dad never became the dark one.” Emma blurts, knowing where Neal was taking that particular route in the conversation. You’re parents wouldn’t have approved, you’d have been afraid of me, blah blah blah, as if that would have stopped her or him for that matter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then I would have just been the son of a peasant and I highly doubt we would have moved in the same circles.” Neal says, reaching up and buttoning his shirt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We would have met.” Emma says with complete certainty, scooting up onto her knees and moving to the edge of the bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re really sure about this aren’t you?” Neal says, more statement than question. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Emma agrees, reaching up and helping Neal to fix his tie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How come?” Neal asks, eyes glowing softly as he studies Emma’s face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because we’re us.” She says it matter of factually, like there is no possible room for anything else, because there isn’t. At least not for Emma who, in every scenario she has ever imagined or dreamed about, has found that Neal is ever the consent. A fixed point. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Careful Miss Swan that sounds an awful lot like you’re saying it’s because of some cosmic density, and I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates.” Neal teases, the curve of his lips soft and gentle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“First it’s Mrs Cassidy-Swan,” Emma scolds, wrapping her arms around Neal’s neck and holding back a smile when Neal’s eyes glint with that special something he reserves only for her. A look that has a wonderful habit of coming out whenever she reminds him of her married name. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Secondly,” Emma continues, “I might have changed my stance on the whole soulmates thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Neal’s smile is wide, bright and so utterly carefree that Emma is suddenly transported to the head over heels in love teenager she’d been all those years ago.  A giddiness floods her veins and causes a rosy hue to bloom on her cheeks. Neal rubs their noses together because both of them are smiling like complete and utter idiots and thus kissing was off the table this second. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Soulmates.” Neal says instead, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, cocking his head in a way that has Emma drawing her bottom lip through her teeth.  Emma shrugs, a quick little pump of her shoulders as if to say “what are you going to do about it?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unable to contain themselves any longer, smiling or not, their mouths meet. It’s soft and sweet whilst at the same time as being heavily heated with undertones of want and need. Emma encases Neal’s neck with her arms, squeezing tight and pulling him as close as humanly possible. A sharp sound cuts through the quiet and with it the reminder about what can happen when their hot and heavy takes over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mum, Dad the baby's awake and I’m not dealing with stinky nappies.” A young female voice calls out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, I'm on it.”  Henry’s voice, now a lot more deeper, the voice of a teenager, floats down the hallway. Emma and Neal break apart, both still smiling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’d love you in every time line Em, but I have to say, I’m not sure anything can top this one right here.” Neal says stealing another quick peck on the lips and Emma can't argue with that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Life was good. </span>
</p>
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